Person of interest arrested in Florida after four dismembered bodies recovered from Oklahoma river

Fort Smith Times Record
·2 min read
Authorities were searching for four missing men in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Billy Chastain, top left, Mark Chastain, Alex Stevens, and Mike Sparks, bottom left, have been missing since Sunday, Oct. 10.
Authorities were searching for four missing men in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Billy Chastain, top left, Mark Chastain, Alex Stevens, and Mike Sparks, bottom left, have been missing since Sunday, Oct. 10.

OKMULGEE, Okla. – A man police called a person of interest in the slayings of four men whose bodies were found dismembered has been arrested, police said Tuesday.

Joe Kennedy was arrested in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, driving a vehicle stolen from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, on Monday, police said.

The four victims, who police said had been planning a burglary before they vanished, had all been shot.

Local authorities described the case as one of the most chilling they've ever seen after the four dismembered bodies were recovered from Oklahoma's Deep Fork River.

Kennedy has a prior conviction in connection with a 2012 shooting in Okmulgee County, police reported.

When did the men disappear?

Mark Chastain, 32; Billy Chastain, 30; Mike Sparks, 32; and Alex Stevens, 29; all of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, were reported missing by family members after they went on a bicycle ride Oct. 9 and did not return.

Police said Monday that all four men were close friends and were thought to have left Billy Chastain's home on the west side of Okmulgee about 8 p.m. Sunday on bicycles. Two of the men were thought to have cellphones with them, but attempts to call the phones went straight to voicemail, police said.

Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said it was the most gruesome case he has worked. The body parts were in various stages of decomposition from being in the river.

"I've worked over 80 homicides," Prentice said. "I have investigated dismemberments, but this involves the highest number of victims and it is a very violent event. I can say I've never worked anything like it."

Prentice said a passerby reported "suspicious items" in the river southwest of Okmulgee. He said there were parts of what appeared to be multiple human remains visible above the water.

Recovering the bodies from the river was mostly completed by Friday night, Prentice said.

The bodies were taken to the medical examiner's office about 40 miles away in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for autopsies.

Police in Okmulgee, also the capital of the Muscogee Creek Nation, will continue to investigate the deaths.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Four missing Oklahoma men found dismembered; arrest made in Florida